Arizona weekly citizen., 1887-01-01
BILL COLLECTING.
WAYS OF THE SMALL LAWYERS -ANr
 THE REGULAR AGENCIES.

How the Tough Cases are Managed-The
 uuIldoxer and His Club-The Cheerful
 Debtor-The Sarcastic Kind-rhe BIus-
 tering Man.
 uThere are a good many collectors in San Francisco, but they may all be de- scril,ed in two classes. The first class in rludes the small lawyers-yOung fellows inst nettiug a start, as a rule, though you ind some old hands among them. They work singly. The others belong usually to one of the regular collection arencies and work together on some sort of a system-hunt in parties, as it were, anl beat out their game like band of
 The collector settled himself for a long conversation by tilting his chair back, resting his feet on the table, and light 'ng cigar.
 ..Now." he continued, ''the young law yer has several ways of going about his iusincss. Supposing him Co have a case -a bill-the next thing to do is tO find his man. If he is impecuniOus he goes ont in person with the bill and hunts the fellow up. Ii he has had a fee within a week or two and has the price Of half a dozen meals in his pocket he usually writes. With an ordinary bill he must write four letters. The first will say: Dear Sir: A bill against you has been placed in my hands for collection. You will ohlige, etc, by calling at my office and settling the same. There k no answer to this. The second letter Is still polite but firm. The third letter Is wOrded some what in this way: Dear Sir. IT the in closed k not paid We shall begin suit at once. The fourth and last Is summons to answer in a suit. In nine eases out oi ten this Is eiIectual IT man mas any standing at all he won't go through tht ;ustice's court for a little bill, sO they come up and settle. But these are simple eases. The tongh ones are usually turned over Co the coliec tion agencies. The collection agencies will take anything. and II the bill Is euIleetlblt they can usually get the money. NheL bills come in they are 'districted. aceoru In., to the part of the city in which they belong. They are then turned over tC | the regular collector for that district wht prrseut th, in in the usual smooth, oily | form After a bill has been put out onc' | it k reassigncd, according Co the reception | which it received If tine debtor manifested a disposition to pay, it Is placed in th, | hands uf the ordinary collector. The har, | cases, though, are turned over tO the col lectOr technically known as the bulldOzer
 THE BULLDOZEE AND HIS CLUE.
 ''The bulldozer is big man, and usually | carries a club for company. He goes tC | the hard case, swclls himself up tO lOOE us big as possible, tramps up and down | the room with his club for a cane, ant | .I. h.. F.. fhnf | bill paid. He doesn't make any threats
 that is against the law But he has . very suggestive way Of twirling his clul and making the most of his big voice | and if the hard case Is a small man h, usually succumbs at the first encounter | Ifhc Is a big man the argument gets pretty warm, and they dare each other to com'
 out into the street and fight. But as th'
 bulldOzer has orders not tO fight unles.
 necessary, and there are not many wht
 want tO try tO throw him out, there i.
 usually a compromise.
 What struck me as remarkable as any
 thing when first went into the business | resumed the collector, refleCtively. after ( | pause, twas the number of men wh, would acknowledge a bill but decline [, | pay it for some frivolous reason. Ther, arc lots of men who go into an enter | prise with the cheerful intention Of allow ing someone else to foot the bills in cas, | of failure l had a case where a ma chinist did some work for an inventor. | presented the bill last week The bil | is all right he confessed, but the ma | chine is no good Do you think I an | paying bills of that kindT As he has | little property l think he will pay in a few days. Sometimes a man of this kint made the purchase, or had the work don, on somebody else's advice, and We must | get the money out of them
 "One of the characters of the profession | is the cheerful debtor. He is a bland smil | ing person that sheds threats as a duck does water He has no property and nc | income. He is as uncO lccrned as the | summer breeze, and admits the bill with as much uncOncern as though it were his mother-in-law's. He invariably winds | up with oh, gOahead and sue if you think you can get it that way l haven't the slightest objection
 ONE OF THE SARCASTIC KIND.
 "The sarcastic kind is usually q woman. had one yesterday that follows the cheer | ful business of layIng out the dead. By the way she went for me I didn't know but what she wns going tO follow her pro l fcssiOn right there, and intended to see to 1T that l furnished the corpse. And is that the kind of bill ye would cOllects' she said. The bill of a man that calls him self a doctor and gives a girl in spasnls medicine tO bc taken once in four hours" I remOnstratcd that she had called the doctor and ought to pay him. Doctors is no good. she. said scornfully. I throwed his medicine out of the window, and I'd like tO serve him the same Oh. she con tinued, becoming very sarcastic, you can sue fl you want to; but you knows what them catches as sues beggars.' And she stalked indignantly out.
 1.-The clustering man k another nice character. He comes laundering around with big nose and a red face, and wants to know why in the name of the seven devils he is distraced by having bill sent Co him through an agency. The idea, he busters, ofanybody supposing wouldn't pay the bill But he never does. He goes out with the parting shot that he would have paid it but now he will wait till he gets ready. There isonly one way tO reach that kind of man We go right to his en- ploycr-hc Is usually getting good salary and we force a collection. No quarter is shown in such eases"
 .---N 'a" E'ftA AAAANN AAAN AAsAANANEA NAA-- ANf deal wi.h iu this citys' asked the reporter.
 Well, about the toughest cases we get are the bills against laywers-sOme of the bis downtown fellows that you would never suspect, too. IT the clients only knew it, they could pay some biz fees pretty cheap hy buying up the bills that are floating around. The best class to collect from is the medium poor. who have small regular income. We meet pitiful case of brOkcn-d0wn gentilitv. trying Co keep up appearances. The excuses they make and the pains they take to hule their poverty are really touching. We are never haul on such people though our business isn't one that has much heart in it.-San Francisco Chronicle Interview.
 Every ablG boiled Indian in Maine has :; dog. and every Indian who is not able bodied has tvU.
 The summit of Mount Taeoma.